Wait, just a minute. Let me get ready for the debate. 🤣

 

15w40 bulk oil out of our pump. It is free, so why not.

 

For a Pilot, I hope not, LOL!

 

Would all the oil brand opinions form a line to the right here, so the rest of the readers can still get through please? No shoving!


In normal service, any name-brand oil product will do just fine. Synthetics tend to have higher detergent levels so keep things cleaner inside, plus flow better cold vs. conventional oils at the same grades and temperatures. Way less detonation and coking risk, something that's very important especially if you have not disabled the VCM system. I'm willing to "spend up" to get the benefits of a good synthetic, knowing the cost/benefit tradeoff. The cars in my fleet don't see many miles driven each year, so are on an annual schedule where cost-per-mile numbers go up vs. following the maintenance minder. Still worth the up-spend on synthetic IMO.

I had a sponsorship deal for Mobil-1 on a track car for a while. I still buy it by the jug at the local Wal-Mart. Resist any urges to spend up on "high-mileage" or "extended life" versions. Just get the regular Mobil-1 synthetic and be happy. A 5-quart jug was $27.47 off the shelf yesterday, coincidentally. Costco has a 6 x 1qt case on sale right now too, maybe better for folks who aren't comfortable pouring from the 5-quart jug.

PHM: The 15W-40 oils tend to be for diesel equipment, so the additive package is different. Not sure whether better or worse, just different. The 15W cold flow characteristics are significantly poorer than the 0W- and 5W- grades recommended by Honda. Maybe less of an issue in the always-balmy tropical provinces in Canada where you are... But still a lot of extra start-up wear every time you turn the key. There's a measurable impact on fuel consumption too. "Free" is always good, except when it's the wrong product. Use your best judgement, it's your car, etc.


Tangent -- Neighbor just had the oil change service done on his RDX at his favorite dealer. Bumping $100 after a few dollars for washer fluid top-off, a few more for that something, a disposal fee, and oil filter disposal fee, a gloves-and-rags fee. Non-synthetic oil too. His car is six years old now. Did they change the brake fluid or coolant? "No, why would they change those?". Diff or VTM-4 fluids? Blank look. I'm not feeling so guilty about over-splurging on M1 and doing it myself...

 

Did they change the brake fluid or coolant? "No, why would they change those?". Diff or VTM-4 fluids? Blank look. I'm not feeling so guilty about over-splurging on M1 and doing it myself...

Heh, coolant I’m good with at timing belt intervals or other system problems and brake fluid every 2-3 years. Funny how often these are completely neglected. I hate changing gear oil and coolant but I’ll do it. Brakes are easy with a vacuum bleeder.

 

Whatever is cheapest and meets the specs.

 

Whatever synthetic is on sale at Walmart that meets the reqs.

 

Just here for the ride

 

Pennzoil runs rebate until Oct, 2022. After rebate is less than $15 for 10 quarts (Pennzoil Platinum). If you like Mobil 1 wait until April (usually $10-15 rebate on 5 quarts). The best rebate I made was the last year. 10 free quarts of Shell Rotella Gas and Truck and $20 cash on top of it (after rebate).

 

Thank you ! I’ve been wondering when they would have that rebate again . Gonna go grab four 5 quart jugs tomorow at wal
Mart .
Same oil for my pilot and my wife’s Pacifica

Thank you !

 

Honestly, more thought is probably required for the filter.

 

Yep, for those I actually do care. I prefer Fram Ultra Synthetic filters. Before anyone jumps on me with the orange can of death bit, research the Ultra Synthetic model. It’s a very well constructed and well made filter. One of the best out there.

 

That's a good turn

 

It's all just personal preference, no right or wrong answers as to what brand each person uses.

I chose to use Mobil 1 full synthetic high mileage oil only because it has a conditioner to keep seals nice and healthy, and it has served me well for years. Also use the extended performance Mobil 1 oil filters to go along with it. I've used other brands and it just doesn't cut it for me. Bottom line!

For a 2015 Pilot with 207K miles (Yes I do drive a lot on the highway) on the clock and it being bone dried and without a speck of oil leak or drip in sight, I'd say the oil is doing its job fairly well.

 

It's all just personal preference, no right or wrong answers as to what brand each person uses.

After changing oil for many years in a variety of vehicles. I believe there are wrong answers. I made personal choices in ignorance years ago.
A quality full synthetic oil of the recommended weight, one with a lower Noack rating is what I'd recommend. I avoid Extended Performance or semi blend oils.
[Corrected]

 

This morning's WalMart ad has Valvoline full-synthetic five-quart jugs for $22. At these prices it's hard to justify not using a premium full-synthetic oil in the cars.

 

Costco's Kirkland full synthetic is made by Warren Distribution, as is the Walmart synthetic. Appears to be the same oil. Has all the required service ratings. Noack might not be up to Nail Grease's standards, but most of the folks here aren't reading in BITOG anyway.

It's good oil, I'm running it in the Pilot and the wife's Prius. And at the modest price, I choose to go with a 5k mile service interval.

 

I'm not one to pay for a product that has an advertising budget. I'm sure most people would think that I'd be the type to buy cheaper oil. Dealing with engines with VCM, direct injection and catalytic converters that clog, I believe spending 3few more bucks on premium oils is worth the difference. I no longer buy economy priced oil filters anymore either.

 

I care more about the filter than the synthetic brand of oil. I use Costco oil. My bet is that it is Mobil 1 private labeled for Costco. I use Wix XP filters. Buy 12 at a time from Rock Auto.

 

 

Here is a vote for the Honda filter. It costs $8.00 when the car is serviced. That is an insignificant portion of the Pilot’s running costs and there is no question as to whether it is the right quality and meets specifications. Not saying the others are bad, but I am not sure what the “get” is on a part this cheap, relative to the total cost of a vehicle.

An anecdote: early in my career I represented a large auto parts maker that had been spun off from the parent - a large auto manufacturer. The parts spin-off company wanted to continue to make parts for the former parent, go into aftermarket parts production, and diversify to make parts for other manufacturers. One of the contract terms that was fairly standard back then, and I don’t think it has changed, is that the parts maker could not make a part for the aftermarket using the original manufacturer specifications. So if you take a hypothetical with Honda: let’s say Purolator makes oil filters for Honda and these are the filters that the cars are manufactured with and that the dealer sells you. (I have no idea who makes Honda filters, this is a hypothetical) — if Purolator sells a Purolator branded filter in the auto store for your Pilot, that filter may look the same but it cannot be the same spec as the original.
So question then is do you need the original spec on an oil filter? That is for the owner to decide but when the price spread is a few dollars why bother with the risk and the mental gymnastics of forum debates? If the engineers who built it determined that spec, unless that is what you also do for a living, I would not take the chance on it.

Finally, any time you have an oil pressure issue in an engine, besides asking if the motor is filled correctly with the specified viscosity oil, the next thing they will look at is the filter. Any brand of car, I don’t care who the shop is, they see an original oil filter for that car, unless it has been left and not replaced in excess of the appropriate service period, will move on to the next diagnostic step, because factory oil filters don’t give issues.

Hopefully this story is helpful. People like to spend lots of time complicating things. I get it more when the cost of the original is a magnitude of expense greater and we are talking about multi hundreds or thousands of dollars, then I get it more. Here? Not so much.

 

Here is a vote for the Honda filter. It costs $8.00 when the car is serviced. That is an insignificant portion of the Pilot’s running costs and there is no question as to whether it is the right quality and meets specifications. Not saying the others are bad, but I am not sure what the “get” is on a part this cheap, relative to the total cost of a vehicle.

The issue is that if you read some of the tear downs of the Honda filter it looks like it may have actually been manufactured by Fram… specifically the “Orange Can” but painted blue with no grip. To me the orange can construction is not good enough for me / my vehicles. I don’t doubt the orange can or the Honda filter meet the OEM specs, but clearly there are better engineered options. Toyota however typically uses Denso filters which are much nicer. I happily run those.

 

I've done my own oil changes since buying my 2015 new. Three to four times per year. I either buy whatever 0W20 is on sale, or just get the Kirkland brand at Costco. And I use Fram oil filters. I've never had an issue of any kind, engine runs perfect. 215k km's on it so far.

 

Get a quality brand and remember fully synthetic isn't the same as 100% synthetic oil.

this video does a good job explaining it:

 

And you think they always improve it?

 

Well, it was implied that the aftermarket are categorically worse. From the hundreds of Youtubers who've torn apart OEM and aftermarket filters, the OEM are as often than not, the more (or as) "cheaply made", which doesn't surprise me. Pennies turn to millions. Now whether those superficial "can you believe they use cardboard, or sloppy glue, or only have 190SQI of filter media...or..." have any material impact on the filtering performance over the life of the filter, or notably engine performance/life, no one here has the means to peform the controlled tests and say.

So yes, I think you have an up hill battle arguing (anecdotally) the OEM filter is usually (or in this case) superior to the better after market choices. And that Honda won't change vendors or some bean counter relaxes specs. Maybe we can get the Project Farm guy to do some controlled testing. He might have a shot at repeating J806 or J1858.

 

Well, it was implied that the aftermarket are categorically worse. From the hundreds of Youtubers who've torn apart OEM and aftermarket filters, the OEM are as often than not, the more (or as) "cheaply made", which doesn't surprise me. Pennies turn to millions. Now whether those superficial "can you believe they use cardboard, or sloppy glue, or only have 190SQI of filter media...or..." have any material impact on the filtering performance over the life of the filter, or notably engine performance/life, no one here has the means to peform the controlled tests and say.

So yes, I think you have an up hill battle arguing (anecdotally) the OEM filter is usually (or in this case) superior to the better after market choices. And that Honda won't change vendors or some bean counter relaxes specs. Maybe we can get the Project Farm guy to do some controlled testing. He might have a shot at repeating J806 or J1858.

I don’t want to argue with you or anyone. People believe what they are going to believe and this exchange is no longer useful. I am reminded of prior exchanges on how valve adjustments aren’t needed and aftermarket timing belt kits are just dandy. It’s one of the reasons I no longer buy used cars.

 

If we're talking about the direct injection engine that's in the 3rd gen, yes, I believe that there is a problem. Not everyone thinks there is. Here's what mine looked like...

 

If we're talking about the direct injection engine that's in the 3rd gen, yes, I believe that there is a problem. Not everyone thinks there is. Here's what mine looked like...
View attachment 158188

That's pretty clean for a DI engine.


BMW N54 @ 44k

 

Hmmm... No fuel to wash the oil off the intake valves? maybe it needs a separate oil filter for the PCV system? j/k... Though a good intake-tract cleaning (Seafoam, Berrymans, water/steam) might shock a lot of that junk into the cats...

Filters:
A recent "engine masters" (discovery channel program) featured a shootout among major oil filter manufacturers. The K&N Gold was their top recommendation. Rated for finer particle removal, still had full flow and min pressure drop in their tests. They didn't actually measure the particle filtration size in the test though, just flow and DP.

I've been using the Bosch Distance D3312 filter intended for the S2000 engines since the car was new. The filter is slightly longer with more filtration area than the standard size, has a higher burst pressure rating (not that that's important really), and was at the top of a ratings pile when I got the car. I have one left of the 12/case I bought in 2013, scheduled for use this coming fall, so I started looking at options. One is the standard blue Honda-branded filter, currently manufactured by Honeywell.

In one of my little spare time consulting gigs, discussions move to oil flow, temperature, filtration, and moisture content as they relate to vibration in large rotating machinery with plain or tilt-pad bearings. Amazingly, suspended particle size in the oil doesn't make a lot of difference in wear between 50- and 100-micron filters. Flow makes a difference to the point when there isn't enough to maintain a wedge/dam to float the shaft. Biggest issue by far is moisture, where not that many PPM results in vapor bubbles expanding and collapsing, interrupting that same wedge/dam that supports a shaft in a plain bearing.

So, do I need to spend up to get a 50-micron rating oil filter in my Pilot? Or will the factory-recommended 100-micron media be enough? I haven't cut open a Pilot filter in years, nor sent an oil sample for analysis as I have for some other cars. Maybe one of the joys of the Honda is that I just don't need to worry about such things. I change the oil very regularly, use a known good oil and a known good filter when I do. It seems to use virtually none between changes, otherwise runs perfectly, is great on fuel while I drive it like the old white-haired guy that I am. No reason to change what I'm doing, based on evidence gathered so far.


And, FWIW and as predicted, we are straying way far from the OP's question. I know I'm as guilty as anyone. Just sayin'...

 

Not all Honda filters are made by Honeywell.

😲

 

Yep, I'm now on the bandwagon that it isn't really the oil = use any name brand full synthetic - but rather the filter - for example, perhaps Fram does impede flow - hence, I only get the filters from the dealership (and the new crush washers) (and I get a new plug once a year as well).

 

🤮 I did not need to see that.

 

Just spoiled my cocktail hour... My eyes!! My eyes!!


Cruising Costco this morning, a six-quart case of M1 is on sale for $30.


Since there no such thing as a good reason anymore... I had a very bad experience with Pennzoil in the late 1960's and early 1970's. They had bribed their way into US Porsche dealers to get the business. But, for some of the air-cooled four-cylinder cars (356 and 912) Pennzoil had a nasty habit of forming a thick gray paste in the bottom of the sump, particularly in colder weather or when the oil wasn't brought to temperature regularly. More than a few of those engines were damaged. I ran Valvoline in mine and had no issues. Bottom line though is that I swore then that I'd never put Pennzoil in anything on purpose, not even a lawnmower. I'm sure they've figured out the problem by now, but with so many other great oil brands available, it remains Very Unlikely that Pennzoil will ever make its way into my workbay.

 

I'm sorry but I have seen zero evidence that the J35 DI engine has rampant carbon buildup problems. One picture that looks "pretty good" compared to what I've seen on GM and German Car forums does not tell me this is something we need to address universally.

My recommendation remains the same as it always has - excellent gas, oil and filter. Disable VCM. Timing belt and accessories on time and run it until it throws a code. Generally, for a J series, those codes are very infrequent.

 

I'm sorry but I have seen zero evidence that the J35 DI engine has rampant carbon buildup problems. One picture that looks "pretty good" compared to what I've seen on GM and German Car forums does not tell me this is something we need to address universally.

My recommendation remains the same as it always has - excellent gas, oil and filter. Disable VCM. Timing belt and accessories on time and run it until it throws a code. Generally, for a J series, those codes are very infrequent.

Compared to previous non-direct injection J35 engines where the fuel is sprayed on the back of the valves, it's a big problem to me. I don't like it.

 

Help me understand here ... What up with this 0w-20 discussion? Are you all using 0w-20 in your Honda or something?

 

Quite simply, the OP asked what brand of 0w20 oil to use. Obviously there is a wide range of opinions. I want to use oil that is not going to cause sludge, or be more likely to burn or evaporate. IMO, semi blends are terrible. Cheap store brand oil may be adequate, but not the quality of most name brands (see YouTube project farm) and higher priced Extended Performance oil has been reported by some to have a problem with thermal breakdown.